Did Missing 13-Year-Old Have a Secret Life? | Tabitha Tuders Case Analysis 

I agree the poor little girl was abducted, i am surprised that with a prefect attendance at school they did not try contacting the parents out of concern when she did not show up for school.

Did the police ever check if either witness who saw a car was color blind? That could explain one seeing a red car and the other a green one.

Hi nighttime watchers!!

I feel Tabitha was a victim of foul play. A girl who sleeps at the foot of her parents bed and is close to her mother isn't going to go missing on her own volition. The guy was no doubt a stalker and possibly a stranger. It's a very sad story! I feel so bad that her parents have had to live with this nightmare for so many years. The not knowing must be torture.

MTL could have stood for "My True Love," meaning that Tabitha did not yet know who that would be but hoped to meet him some day.

Monsters live among us, disguised as human beings. This is every parent's nightmare.

Man, imagine being her parents... 20 years later and still no idea what happened.

Red-green is the most common form of colour blindness, occurring in about 10% of men. I wonder if the two witnesses could have been describing the same car, with at least one witness being colour blind.

This case happened about an hour from my home. It had a very profound impact on the community. Her mother has fought to keep the spotlight on Tabitha's case every day since she disappeared hoping and praying for answers. I think it's also worth noting that at the time this happened 13 was fairly immature for kids, esp in that area & we know Tabitha was more immature than most. I think it's very unlikely she ran away. Thank you for covering it.

Anyone that’s old enough to drive but targets a 13-yr old does not have the best intentions. Easily a case of foul play

The schools here in central Virginia started calling parents if a kid was absent in the late 80s-early 90s.

This reminds me a lot of myself. I was a relatively sheltered, straight A student. I was born a year before Tabitha. Right around the age she disappeared, I had gotten very involved with chat rooms. I was lonely and it was easier to make friends. At that time, I had no idea of the dangers and that people might not be who they said they were online. Luckily for me, my sister told my parents who put a stop to it. But I could see Tabitha doing something similar and not being so lucky.

I attended Bailey Middle with tabitha when she disappeared. I can remember the many rumors spreading around the school about what happened and many students claiming to have seen her after her disappearance. Police were in and out of our school constantly investigating leads! Tabitha was a sweet girl and it’s crazy for to think that 20 years later there’s still no answers!

Dr. Grande, how is speaking to people at the library on a chatroom as well as smoking with a man 8 years her senior considered "no signs of' foul play?

Very sad and yes, parents worst nightmare. This poor girl was abducted. Straight A student, no problems at home or bullying at school so there was no reason for her to run away. I can’t even imagine how hard this has been on her family 😢

Predators are known to approach victims telling them something has happened to their parents, etc. and they are there to take them to the hospital, etc. This could easily have happened and would explain why the predator could be from any place far away. Poor little girl :(

I can't imagine a worse way to lose a loved one than having one vanish like this. If a loved one dies at least we can grieve. Never knowing how they died or even if they died would be unbearable. And then the psychics show up, hoping to profit from our pain. Thank you for the thought-provoking analysis, Dr. Grande.

How can people believe a 13-year-old disappears 20 years ago and still think it might be a runaway.

In the 90’s. The schools didn’t call home is kids were absent. That started later like 2000’s

Not at high risk? 20 minutes walking to the bus alone everyday is A LOT. Plus, apparently there was a significant possibility of no one else being there and her having to go to a different bus stop, walking even further. Plus, who knows how long they were standing waiting for the bus. I'd say she was very high risk considering she was all alone and both her parents were gone. Anyone could watch and know that was the case.